Wild Life
by EvenRobotsNeedBlankets
Summary: One-shots about the characters and pairings of PJO and HOO.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or The Heroes of Olympus.**

Ever since coming back from Tartarus Annabeth had found that she'd been spending a good portion of her time trying to forget. It wasn't an easy task, as one does not simply forget about the time they spent quite literally walking through hell. The trick was to keep herself busy.

If a memory of falling into Tartarus rose up, giving her a moment of temporary dizziness, she'd seek out Leo and ask if he needed help with anything on the ship.

The taste of the fire they'd drank from The Phlegethon had never quite left. It stuck to her taste buds and refused to budge. Her solution to this was to shovel in as many good tasting foods as she could in hopes of drowning the unpleasant taste out.

When memories of the creatures they'd seen there tried to claw their way through Annabeth's head, she'd grip her weapon and remind herself that she was just as fearsome as any monster.

And if all else failed, she'd find Percy. Percy must have understood what she was feeling, as he always knew what to do. He'd kiss her softly and hold her hand, giving her silent reassurances that they were both out of Tartarus and as safe as they could be at the moment.

Maybe forgetting Tartarus wasn't easy, but for the most part Annabeth managed. It wasn't until late at night when Annabeth was alone that the memories dug their way out of the hole she'd buried them in. They'd dance lazily around her head and when she fell asleep they'd start their show, presenting themselves to her in the form of nightmares. The nightmares always started the same way. Percy and her were sitting in rowboat in the middle of a lake eating lunch. The sky was cloudless, the lake was clear, and the air was warm, everything was perfect. Then, Percy would pull out the bag. It was a plain, brown, paper bag, that children used to bring their lunch to school. There was absolutely nothing special about it, but Percy would smile like he was holding something precious and say, "I got you a surprise!" Annabeth would then give him a small, cautious smile. She didn't exactly like surprises, but it was Percy, so how bad could it be? She'd reach out to take the bag from him, and he'd stop her with a small shake of his head, "I'll get it out for you," and this is when the dreams turned to nightmares. True to his word Percy's surprise truly was a surprise. Percy never pulled the same thing out of the bag twice, and he never pulled anything good out of the bag.

The first night she'd had the dream, Percy held the bag upside down, and out crawled a single spider. It was a simple black spider, as big as Annabeth's palm. Annabeth wasn't _scared_ of the spider, but to say it hadn't sent a shiver through her spine would be a lie. When Percy shook the bag, and another spider dropped out, Annabeth started to get a little worried. "Percy.." She said, a nervous edge to her voice. Percy smiled reassuringly and shook the bag harder. Spiders spilled out from the bag and onto the floor of the boat. Percy kept shaking, spiders kept coming. Now Annabeth was scared. Annabeth did what seemed to be the most logical thing, she jumped out of the boat and into the water.

For a moment, Annabeth thought she'd jumped into The Phlegethon, as the water had scorched her skin. Then, she realized that she'd jumped straight into a lake filled with spiders. Thousands upon thousands of spiders. She wasn't being burned, she was being eaten alive. The spiders nibbled away at her skin, and she was powerless to stop them. "Percy!" Annabeth screamed, one spider took opportunity to crawl into her mouth and slip down her throat. Annabeth choked while Percy ignored it all. He sat on the boat, content with shaking more spiders from his bag. "Don't you see?" Chanted the spiders as Annabeth grabbed at her throat, "You're all alone."

Annabeth had woken up that morning with a scream stuck in her throat as she tried to shake invisible spiders out of her hair.

The nightmares only got worse after that and they occurred every night. There was nothing Annabeth could do to stop them, and it wasn't like she could tell everyone. She was supposed to be forgetting Tartarus, and getting ready for whatever came next. So, the nightmares remained her little secret. That is until one night when she had what was arguably her worst nightmare.

This time, Percy had pulled a dagger out of the bag, and proceeded to hand it to her. Annabeth had taken the dagger and asked, "Where'd you get this?" Percy didn't answer, instead he'd grabbed the arm she held the weapon in. She tried to pull her arm away, but Percy was to strong. He led her dagger wielding hand up so that the point of it grazed his chest. Percy had looked up at Annabeth with accusations in his eyes, and whispered, "why?" Then he'd tugged her hand forward, plunging the dagger into his heart. Annabeth didn't even have time to scream. His eyes turned glassy and his head fell back to look at the sky as a bloody flower bloomed on his chest. Only after a fit of screaming and crying, and pleading for Percy to be brought back, did Annabeth realize that she was gripping something tightly in her hand. Her dagger, covered in dark dried blood. She had killed Percy.

When Annabeth woke up it was almost like she was still in the dream. She wasn't thinking as she kicked her blankets away, got up, and left her room. She still wasn't thinking when she walked quietly to Percy's room, and opened the door. It was only when she was standing there in his doorway that the logical part of her brain kicked in. It was late, she couldn't wake Percy up just because she'd had a bad dream. Besides, she could see Percy from there, sleeping soundly. She hadn't killed him. Annabeth nodded, and turned to go back to her own room.

"Annabeth?" She winced at the sound of him calling her name. She'd woken him up, and now he probably thought she was one of those crazy girls that got a kick out of watching their boyfriend sleep. "Annabeth, what's going on?" No, he doesn't think she's crazy, Annabeth realized, he thinks there's something wrong.

Annabeth turns just in time to see Percy scrambling to get out of his bed. "No, Percy, there's nothing wrong," He relaxed slightly, his attempts to free his legs from his cacoon of blankets ceased." I just..," She figured that she may as well tell him the truth, "I just had a bad dream. I had to make sure that you were okay." There, good. She'd sounded calm, her voice hadn't wavered. She'd expected Percy to tease her a bit, make a stupid comment about how a bad dream for her must just be visions of unorganized books.

"Oh."

"Yeah, well I'll just go now...," Maybe she'd escape without teasing afterall.

"Hey, Annabeth?" or not.

"Yes, Percy?"

"Um," He picked at his blankets, "You know, you could just, stay here?" It sounded more like a question than a suggestion.

Annabeth smiled, and shut his door, "Yeah, alright." She knows she shouldn't have, it wasn't a wise decision, but on that night it was the best decision. She crawled into the bed next to Percy who reached his hand out for hers.

"You know we're going to be okay, right?" Percy whispered as they layed hand in hand,and Annabeth couldn't help but wonder if he'd been fighting with his own demons. Annabeth nodds because yes, she does know. Sure, maybe right now they were still a little scared, but it didn't make them any less strong. If they could get through Tartarus together, then they could mostly definitely move on from Tartarus together. It just might take some time.

Annabeth squeezed Percy's hand, "Yeah, I know," and for the first time in awhile, she truly believed it.

**AN**

**I get alot of ideas that are to small to be multi chapter fics so I decided to just do this. Feel free to point out any improvements I could make. Thanks.**


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